Weighing-machine with sliding weight.



No. 770,126. PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904.,

' E. STEIGER.

WBIGHING MAGHINE WITH SLIDING WEIGHT. APPLIO ATIOR FILED OCT. 16, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

2 8HEET8SHBBT 1.

Witnesses g y No. 770,126. PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904.

. E. STEIGER.

WEIGHING MACHINE WITH SLIDING WEIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.16, 1902.

2 BHEETSSHEET 2.

5 y M 0 M 0 0 R r w; .W 2 Z a 6 NO MODEL.

Patented September 13, 1904.

EUGEN STEIGER, OF ALTSTETTEN, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

WElGHlNG-MACHINE WITH SLIDING WEIGHT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,126, dated September 13, 1904.

Application filed October 16, 1902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGEN STEIGER, acitizen of the Republic of Switzerland, residing at Altstetten, near Zurich, Switzerland, (whose post office address is Chalet Trautheim, Altstetten, Zurich, aforesaid,) have invented new and useful Improvements in VVeighing- Machines with Sliding WVeights, (for which I have made application for patents in Switzerland, dated April 3, 1902; in Germany, dated June 17, 1902; in Austria, dated June 18, 1902; in Belgium, dated June 19, 1902; in France, dated June 21, 1902; in Hungary, dated July 2, 1902; in Italy, dated July 24, 1902; in England, dated August 11, 1902, No. 17,570, and in Russia, dated September 4, 1902,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide weighing-machines with sliding weights with a weight-indicator which weighs and indicates the weight of the load automatically without affecting in the least the sensitiveness of the machine, thus retaining it always true, and which is applicable to any weighing-machine with sliding weight without any material alterations thereto or having to be built specially to suit the indicator. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying two sheets of drawings, in whicl Figure 1 is a front view of a weighing-ma chine furnished with my improved indicator; Fig. 2, an enlarged front view of the indicator separate with dial removed; Fig. 3, a side view, and Figs. 4 to 6 views of details thereof.

Similar characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In carrying out my invention, and referring to the figures generally, I suspend, by means of the pulleys 1 and rail 2, carried by the steelyard 3, a frame 4, containing clockwork. The steelyard 3 has knife-edges Y and an attachment M for the load. The lower side of this rail is toothed at 5 and in gear with a spur-pinion 7,, secured upon the shaft 6, mounted in the frame 4 of the indicator. The shaft 6 has secured the spiral spring 8, (driving spring,) which turns it in the direc- Serial No. 127,504. (No model.)

tion of the arrow. Upon this shaft is also secured a ratchet-wheel 9, in which engages the pin 10 of a pawl 11, which, together with a lever 14, forming a finger 12, is so fulcrumed at 13 to the casing 4 that when the wheel 9 turns in the said direction it is caused to move and, abutting against the pin 15 on the lever 14, turns the latter in the same direction. The pawl 11 is held against the pin 15, and thereby in the path of the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 9, by the spring 17, while the lever 14, through its own weight, bears against the stop 18 on the frame 4. The driving-shaft 6 has secured another finger, 19, arranged in connection with a dial 20, having a graduation denoting units, while another graduation, 4 denoting subunits, is arranged outside the said frame over which the finger 12 moves. The circumference of the wheel 7 is such that when the indicator has slid a distance equal to the total path of the sliding weight it will have turned once.

The wheel 7 is in gear with a spur-pinion 21, which, together with a'larger spur-wheel 22, is secured upon the shaft (4. The spurwheel 22 is in gear with a spur-pinion 23, secured upon the shaft 5, carrying also the spurwheel 24, in gear with the spur-pinion 25 on the last-motion shaft 0. Between the wheels 24 and 23 a clutch K is employed upon the shaft Z), so that the motion between pinion 23 and the last-motion shaftc can be interrupted.

Upon the last-motion shaft 0 a brake-disk B is secured, against the periphery of which bears a spring S, secured upon the arm 26 of the angular lever 26, arm 26" of which carries a set-screw 27. The end of the said set-screw bears against a cam 28, adapted to rotate upon the indicator-frame, and by adjusting this setscrew the lever-arm 26, and thereby the spring S, can be brought nearer to or farther away from the brake-disk B, and thus more or less brake-power applied. To this cam is connected the lever 29, the arm 29 of which has secured rigidly a weight G, while the arm 29 carries a rod 29, the free end of which bears against the periphery of the small cam 30, secured upon the shaft 6. Upon the lastmotion shaft 0 is also secured the disk 31,

upon which operates the lever 32, pivoted at 32 to the indicator-frame, the arm 32' carrying a brake-block 32 and the arm 32 having a forked end Z, partly embracing the eccentric E, mounted upon the steelyard at 33 and 3 1. Upon the end of the eccentric E next to the bearing 3a the lever 35 is secured, the arm 35 of which carries a weight g, which presses the arm 35 down, thereby turns the eccentric to the right, while the arm 35 when raising the steelyard, abuts against a set-screw 37 employed upon the frame of the weighingmachine, and which screw, when the steelyard has risen to its full extent, presses the lever 45 slightly down. T o the frame of the weighing-machine is also pivoted at 37 an angular lever 38, the arm 38 of which is formed into a handle and the other, 38, with a projection 00. The arm 38 is adapted to move in and press against the lower end of the link 39, secured to the steelyard, whereby the latter can be drawn down into its lowest position and arrested therein by the projection 00 slipping into the edge 39 of the lower end of the link.

The indicator described is started and operates as follows: After having placed the load upon the platform the lever-arm 38 is removed from the link edge 39 and the link thereby released, so that the steelyard can rise, which causes the lever-arm 35 to abut against the set-screw 37 and thereby press the same down a distance to correspond with the position of the said screw. This causes the eccentric E to turn downward and press against the vertical part of the fork Z, so that the lever-arm 32 and with it the brake-block 32, is moved from the disk 31. The release of the latter sets the gearing actuated by the spring 8 in rotation, the wheel 7 turns in the direction indicated by the arrow, and the frame, with its clockwork propelling itself on the toothed rail 2, slides outward along the steelyard. Simultaneously the shaft 6, and with it the finger 19, turns, the latter indicating the displacement of the clockwork upon the graduation of the dial 20. The wheel 9 rotating at the same time and in the same direction as the wheel 7, the finger 12 is moved intermittently over the graduation 4. This intermittent 'movement is caused by the teeth of the wheel 9 engaging the pawl 11, bearing against the stop 15 of the lever 14 and slipping over the point of the tooth after the wheel 9 has turned one tooth. The number of teeth of the ratchetwheel 9 must correspond with the number of weight units on the graduation of the dial 20. For instance, the graduation of a weighingmachine for one hundred kilos having one hundred division-marks, the ratchet-wheel must also have a hundred teeth-divisions, owing to the finger 12 having to indicate fractions of a kilo, in the present instance the twentieth part of a kilo-fifty grams.

The clockwork or weight indicator clescribed is provided with a weightN and must be of the same weight as the sliding weight provided for the weighing-machine, and when moved far enough outward to balance the load the action of the weight 9 causes the steelyard to descend into balance position prematurely. The action of the set-screw 37 upon the lever-arm 35 then ceasing, the eccentric E will cause the lever 32 to press the brakeblock 32 against the disk 31 and arrest the clockwork, which arrest takes place at the proper time through the premature descent of the steelyard. Owing to the pretty large speed at which the last-motion shaft 0 is caused to rotate, small differences which may occur in the time of the said arrest will not affect materially the indicator setting correctly into the balance position. The last-motion shaft 0 is also very sensitive, and the arrest thus takes place very smoothly and easily. However, to obtain a uniform arrest in any position it is necessary that the indicator works regularly. For this purpose the set-screw 27 on the leverarm 26 bears against the eccentric 28, and the latter, through its lever 29 and rod 29, is brought into connection with the small cam 30. This causes the pressure of the flat spring S to be reduced according to the extent to which the driving-spring has uncoiled, which latter, however, does not exceed one coil even when the indicator has slid to its full extent outward, the part of the eccentric with which the set-screw is in contact being caused to recede when the eccentric is turned through the medium of the snail-cam 30, rod 29, and lever 29, so that the pressure of the lever-arm 26 upon the flat spring S will be correspondingly reduced. The load having been balanced and the indicator thereby arrestedz'. a, the indicator having set itself at the balance point of the steelyard the weight units can be read from the graduation on the dial 20 for instance, in a one-hundred-kilo machine the number of kiloswhile the finger 12 gives upon the upper graduation 4 the subunitsc'. a, the fraction of the units passed by the unit-finger 19. After having read the weight of a load-. e. before weighing a fresh loadthe indicator is slid back to its initial position, (balance position,) which movement is limited by the stop A on the rail 2. In setting the indicator back, as described, the unit-finger will also return to zero, the same the subunit-finger, the latter through the weight of its lever, which causes the pawl to slip the teeth of the ratchet-wheel and not enter the same again until the ratchet-wheel stops. In sliding the indicator back the clutch will also disengage, and thereby permit the described gearing+zl 6., the last-motion shaft 0to remain stationary. To prevent the indicator sliding unduly, the steelyard is locked by the lever 38. In sliding back the indicator the driving-spring is also wound up again automatically to the extent it has been unwound, and thus no key or the like is required for winding it up.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. Ina weighing-machine, a steelyard, an indicator thereon for automatically weighing and indicating loads, comprising a frame, having graduations thereon, a clockwork therein having a driving medium for sliding the said indicator outward along the steelyard and a last-motion shaft, a graduated dial and an index-finger for indicating units upon said dial and a second index-finger for indicating subunits upon the frame-graduations, a speedregulating device and a disengaging gear and brake in connection with the said last-motion shaft, all combined substantially as and for the purpose set'forth.

2. In a weighing-machine, a steelyard, an indicator thereon for automatically weighing and indicating loads, comprising a frame, having subunits-graduations thereon, a clockwork therein having a driving medium for sliding the said indicator outward along the steelyard, a graduated dial an index-finger for indicating units on the said dial, a ratchet-wheel secured upon the driving-shaft of the said clockwork having teeth divisions equal in number with those of the said units, a lever serving as finger for the said subunits-graduations and a pawl adapted to engage in and be actuated by the teeth of the said ratchetwheel, all combined substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a weighing-machine, a frame, a steelyard mounted thereon, an indicator comprising a clockwork having a last-motion shaft and adapted to slide along the steelyard and automatically weigh and indicate the load, a brake and a disengaging gear in connection with the said last-motion shaft, an eccentric mounted against the side of the said steelyard for actuating the said brake, a double-armed lever secured upon the outer end of the said eccentric and an abutment on the said frame operating the said lever, all combined substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

EUGEN STEIGER.

WVitnesses:

JAooB MosnR, A. LIEBERKNECHT. 

